Part Two of Experiment 367
by StoryBirth
Summary: The ponies see that the sky has changed into a strange new color. Old legends state that it is a sign from some woman's voice in the sky to return to her land. Upon returning, they find out that it's time for testing.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Blue Sky

It was another wonderful morning. At least it probably would've been if somepony had allowed Twilight Sparkle to sleep in. Twilight grumbled to herself in her bed. She tried her best to go back to bed, but it was too late. Pinkie's earlier exclamation had woken her up. Twilight probably wouldn't have minded being woken up so early if the pink pony had shouted nearly anything but "Twilight! Come quick! The sky is blue!" Typical Pinkie Pie? Yes. Necessary? No.

The purple unicorn rolled out of bed and groggily looked at the clock. 4:45? That was too early even for Pinkie Pie's antics. She heard a menacing groan coming from the foot of her bed. "Why are we up so early?" asked Spike

"Pinkie Pie," Twilight answered, followed by a loud groan from the baby dragon. Spike knew that Pinkie always means well, but usually got tired of her randomness quickly. Especially before dawn.

Twilight was glad that at 4:45 in the morning Celestia hadn't raised the sun. It meant that most stores probably wouldn't be open either. She wished she could just go back to bed, but she was already up. The purple unicorn put a hoof to her chin to try to think what she could do.

Twilight Sparkle finally came to a conclusion. She decided to study some astronomy while Luna's moon was still up. She didn't have her Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy, but fortunately she could remember most of it. Who knows? Maybe she would make a super discovery. The thought made the unicorn smile, but she dismissed it since she didn't want her head in the clouds.

The unicorn used her magic to lift up her telescope as quietly as possible to not wake Spike, who was fortunate enough to have drifted off to sleep. Baby dragons do need their rest. She placed the telescope next to the window as the aura-covered curtains flew apart.

As Twilight looked out the window, she let out a gasp that was so loud it almost woke Spike. Like the nighttime, it wasn't a blinding light that late risers cursed, but it wasn't completely dark either. Instead there was just a blue light that shone down on all of Equestria. Pinkie was right. The sky was blue.

It wasn't the kind of blue that anypony would expect in a normal day. It was a different shade of blue. It looked more like the blue found in a kit of markers than a sky blue found on Rainbow Dash's coat.

Twilight looked at the new sky in a sense of bewilderment. She didn't know if she was supposed to be afraid or envious or joyful or anything. The moon that was supposed to be out at 4:45 was covered by the new artificial sky

The unicorn could see a small white dot that seemed to replace the sun, except it didn't shine. It was more like a small insignificant cloud. It could have just as easily been a cloud if it wasn't the only white thing in the sky.

"Hmmm..." Twilight said to herself after shaking the amazed look off of her face. She was intrigued by this little white dot. Her eye went into the eyepiece of the telescope as Twilight moved the device. The hardest part about moving the telescope while looking at the new sky was that it was impossible to gauge how fast you were going. Everything was blue.

After a couple seconds of searching, Twilight found the white dot. The telescope's iris shrunk as Twilight focused her view onto the little white dot. As she continued to zoom in, the purple unicorn realized that the white dot was actually a group of words.

After a little more zooming in, Twilight Sparkle could read the general message: "MOLTEN CORE WARNING. AN OPERATOR ERROR HAS OCCURRED AT" followed by a large string of numbers and letters that made no logical sense. Molten core? That didn't sound good. And who's the operator who made this error?

The message continued: "*PRESS ANY KEY TO VENT RADIOLOGICAL EMISSIONS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE" Even more cryptic than the first message. What was the key? And how would a message floating in the sky be able to vent radiological emissions? Where were the emissions even coming from?

Twilight continued to read. "*CONSULT REACTOR CORE MANUAL FOR INSTRUCTIONS OF PROPER REACTOR CORE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR

PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"

Twilight read and reread the message. What was a reactor core and where could a pony find the manual for it? Does pressing any key vent the radiological emissions or allow you to continue? How do you press a key anyway? It was all so confusing making her want to go back to bed even more than she had felt before.

Celestia needed to know about this. "Spike! Take a note!" the pony commanded. She turned to the dragon's bed to see that her friend was off in dreamland. Twilight Sparkle sighed as she magically summoned a quill and scroll. She habitually spoke as she wrote:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

As you can most likely see, the sky has been painted a more obnoxious blue than the traditional sky blue. This paint has covered Luna's moon and will most likely hide your wonderful sunshine.

I also happened to notice a small group of white words in this sky. It is a message that uses strange letters and numbers that I don't understand. It also mentions releasing radiological emissions into the atmosphere, which would be a danger to all of Equestria, and a reactor core. If you know about any of these things, please let me know.

Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle"

She rolled up the scroll and tied it up with a red piece of ribbon. She was ready to send it off, but Spike was still asleep. If it was anypony else, Twilight would've woken the sleeper up without a second though, but Spike was too cute in his sleep to wake up. So the unicorn shook her quill up to the baby dragon's nose. When Spike sneezed, she put the scroll in front of his mouth, and the scroll was off to Celestia.

Twilight chuckled to herself at what she had just done before becoming serious again as she looked into the sky. What was going on? Hopefully the princess would know.

After a few minutes of asking herself answerless questions, Twilight Sparkle heard a burp behind her, followed by a "BOOM!" The boom made Twilight jump as she turned around. The scroll was sent with a gargantuan red book titled, "Equestria Mythology."

The unicorn stared perplexed at the book. "Mythology? What does that have to do with a core or a key or anything?" It definitely didn't help that she didn't believe in any myth nonsense. She opened the purple-ribboned scroll that laid next to the book and read it out loud. "Explanation: Page 13. This will tell you what the source of the change in color of the sky is. How to Get There: Page 67. This will tell you how to get to the place you need to go. I believe that you can answer the call. It is now officially your mission."

Twilight could barely contain her excitement. She had a mission from the princess, and it was interesting. She didn't even know what it was, but she was excited.

Since it was a direct order from the princess, the purple unicorn opened the book and began to read skeptically. Even though she was excited, she still didn't believe in most mythology.

"Chapter 2: Creation of Equestria

Summary

1500 years ago, Equestria was constructed by a group of mythical creatures known throughout pop culture as humans. The group was ruled by a female human who had never been seen by any of the humans making Equestria. In fact, the humans making Equestria lived in fear of her voice and usually were killed by their leader.

Since the land of Equestria was built miles below the ground, the female voice created Luna and Celestia as the first ponies to inhabit the cities already built by the workers. Ever since then, the voice promised to give a sign in the sky. When this sign is given, she would require ponies to make their way up to the god's land."

Twilight Sparkle looked up from the book. She had heard this at least a million times as a bedtime story. The voice was nothing more than a silly little childhood memory. But was Celestia trying to tell her that these myths actually are true? Was this blue marking the sign?

Well according to Celestia, it must be. Looking back, Twilight found it odd that being her apprentice, she never asked the princess about this myth. She seemed to have just taken it as an old pony tale. Then again, that was the case with Nightmare Moon, too.

She flipped the pages to the sixty-seventh page of the huge book. She was only skimming the surface of the goliath of a book. No wonder she didn't have this book in her library. It was too gigantic. She got to page 67 and continued her reading.

"Chapter 5: Creation of the Everfree Forest

Summary

It had been one hundred years since the creation of Equestria. Celestia and Luna had mastered their art of raising the moon and the sun. Suddenly, a glowing blue sphere began to slowly fall from the god's land. It landed in an empty plain and created a blue hole

Terrible creatures and plants spurted from the blue hole. The blue hole was said to be a portal to the god's land, and the creatures from the god's land such as manticores and cockatrices came from the hole. After only a week, there was a large patch of darkness that we now call the Everfree Forest. The blue hole then disappeared, ending the growth of the forest."

To Twilight, this was another bedtime story. Not as common as the creation of Equestria story, but still well known as a sort of a sequel. Her mom would tell her both stories to her one after another. Twilight would always ask where the happy ending was, and her mom would respond with a cheerful "There isn't one yet. Maybe when you grow up, you can make one." That always gave her a happy good night's sleep.

Celestia said that the story of how the Everfree Forest would tell her "How to Get There." Considering that the blue orb that created the forest came from the god's land, "there" must be where the blue orb came from. And the blue orb came from the god's land. The place where all of the nasty things in the Everfree Forest came from. Celestia wanted Twilight to go there. Twilight was suddenly less excited.

At first, the unicorn wondered to herself if she could find a way out of doing this. It seemed really dangerous. She was going to be going somewhere nopony had ever gone before. Not to mention she was going to the place that was probably more sinister than the Everfree Forest.

But she knew that the princess wanted her to do this. It was her duty. The unicorn would rather die than let the princess down. Besides, maybe it was just like her mom had told her when she was a filly. Maybe she could make a happy ending.

It was settled. She was going to go up to the god's land and solve the problem. Besides, if this was the sign that the voice was going to give, then she might as well answer the call.

Suddenly, a groan was heard from the bed. The baby dragon couldn't get back to sleep, and he didn't even know about the sky yet. "So how about that sky?" he said in a messy mumble. The purple dragon was still half asleep and would probably think that the new sky coloring was just part of some bizarre dream. But he still needed to see it.

"See for yourself," Twilight said in a worried tone, a tone she had the right to speak with considering her new mission. Spike reluctantly lifted his head from the covers to look out the window. The baby reptile jumped out of his covers when he saw the sky. "The sky! I-It's BLUE!"

Twilight giggled a little to ease her tension. "Sounds familiar," she said mostly to herself.

"Twilight! Do you know what's going on?" Spike yelled in a sort of half-panic mode.

"Well, apparently this is some sort of calling from a voice miles above us. Do you know the story of how Equestria was made?"

"What does the sky have to do with Pinkie Pie's-?"

"Wrong story, Spike."

"Oh." Spike gave himself another moment to think. "Aha! You mean the one with the voice?"

Twilight Sparkle smiled at his mistake. "Yes. Apparently this is her call for somepony to go back to the god's land. Celestia just gave me direct orders to answer the call and go to the voice's world."

Spike looked at the unicorn like she was a shiny trophy. "Whoa! That's gotta be the coolest thing ever! So many ponies in all of Equestria, and Celestia chooses you to go check out the new world. It's like Christopher Coltumbus, but even cooler."

Twilight used her magic to pack a bag for a long trip into a new world. She packed any necessary provisions, a bit of hay and grass for food, and some books on mythology. The unicorn decided against taking the gargantuan book that Celestia had sent her. "So Spike, make sure that the library stays functioning just fine while I'm gone."

With that, Spike nearly jumped in front of his friend. "Oh no no no! If you're gonna be some big explorer, then you are not doing it without me."

Twilight groaned. Not this again. "Spike you-

"I know I'm just a baby dragon, but I'm your number one assistant. And stuff like this is what number one assistants are for. So whether you like it or not, I'm coming with you, Twilight."

Twilight opened her mouth to talk, but Spike did have a point. Besides, she would appreciate a companion to be with in the incredibly long balloon ride. "Alright Spike, you can come, too."

The dragon jumped in the air brimming with joy. "Yes!" The enthusiasm from her assistant made Twilight Sparkle give a chuckle as she packed additional provisions for her number one assistant.

"Well number one assistant, you can carry the bag," the pony said as she dropped the forty pound backpack onto the baby dragon's back, who buckled over and collapsed as soon as it landed. But after a couple seconds, Spike rolled out from under the crushing hold of the pack. "I'll go get the balloon ready. Don't mess anything up, Spike."

As Twilight walked away, the purple dragon began to fish through the bag to find a book with the title "The Mysterious Mystery of the Voice". If he was going to be like Christopher Coltumbus, then he was going to need a map. Twilight told me that because he didn't have a map, Coltumbus' expedition was somewhat of a failure. So it was best that he knew what he was up against.

"Voice Fun Facts"

That sounded like a section he could investigate. Especially since it was a long segment of bullet points, unlike the walls of text everywhere else.

"The voice is known by some as GLaDOS."

Interesting. Perhaps a codename for the voice. Because just calling it "the voice" is plain boring. Sure, GLaDOS doesn't sound as cool as "Mega Ultra Voice Ruling All of the Universe", but it was still catchy. Next fact.

The voice loves cake.

Aha! A weak point! Maybe cake can be a way to weaken GLaDOS. Sort of catch her detach her attention to what's important at the time, such as a flying kick to the face. Man, if he read enough of these, he could take put that voice thing with a blindfold. Next fact.

The voice hates potatoes...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Voiceland

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I accept the mission you have given me to explore the land where the mystical voice resides. I will first admit that I was somewhat skeptical in the answer being in mythology, but it would seem that all signs point to it.

I will be going to this new land that for the sake of simplicity we will call the Voiceland. Spike will be coming with me as a companion and as a way to communicate messages back to you. I will send you as much information as possible. I hope that by the end of this journey, we can learn more about the creation of Equestria and other useful information.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Alright, send it off, Spike."

Spike rolled up the scroll he had written Twilight's message on and blew it away with a green fire. The smoke magically flew through the cool blue-tinted morning (probably) air to Canterlot for the princess to read. "Message has been sent."

"Awesome. Now let's not waste any time. The sooner we get going, the sooner we uncover the mysteries of the Voiceland," Twilight Sparkle said as she hopped into the balloon.

As Spike entered the balloon, he said to Twilight, "By the way, I took the liberty of doing some research while you got the balloon set up. Now I know all there is to know about GLaDOS."

"Who's GLaDOS?"

Spike pulled a book out of the bag already inside the balloon. "GLaDOS is the name of the voice according to this book. Not a cool name if you ask me, but I think it's better than just The Voice."

The unicorn read the title. "The Mysterious Mystery of the Voice: Based on Real Accounts of Human Workers" Twilight flipped through the pages to encounter a few walls of text big enough to intimidate the greatest of readers. Then again, it wasn't a big book, so the writer seemed to cram it all into a small pamphlet. "You read all of this in an hour?" she asked with a hint of disbelief.

"Well, I skimmed it," Spike admitted. "But I DID read the fun facts section in full. It was very informative. Like for example, did you know the voice is actually a robot?"

Twilight raised one of her eyebrows. "A robot?"

"Yeah, a robot who had the mind of a human woman. That's why it sounded like a normal voice. In fact, the book said that she was on some kind of ego trip since she wanted all of the ponies in Ponyville to think of her as a god, which apparently worked pretty well."

Twilight just replied skeptically with, "Well, did YOU know that almost all of the workers who assisted in creating Equestria were mentally insane. Sorry Spike, but that research can't be valid considering the source is unreliable."

Spike sighed. "Well, I'll still keep it in mind. You never know, Twilight. Sometimes the most unlikely of stories are the true ones. Like remember Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight gave her counter argument in a flash. "Well, THAT was based off of a book that had valid sources, not firsthand accounts of a hallucinating overworked laborer. Now, let's get going so we can find out."

Spike nodded and blew a roaring fire to ignite a torch inside the balloon. The air around them rose a couple degrees to take away the morning air feeling.

"Wow! Great job, Spike. Good to see you've been working on that," the purple unicorn cheered. The fire that Spike had used to ignite the torch was crimson instead of the normal green fire he had used to send messages to Celestia. The same fire that was used for cooking or warmth. This fire along with some of Twilight's magic is what guided the balloon.

"Hey guys!" said a rough voice that the purple duo knew the second they heard it. Rainbow Dash flew up next to the balloon as it slowly lifted itself off of the ground. "What's with the balloon? Does it have anything to do with the sky? By the way, do you know what's up with the sky?"

Spike answered in place of Twilight. "Oh, we're going to the Voiceland. You know that old myth about the voice in the sky that created Equestria?"

Rainbow Dash gasped. Apparently, she knew the story pretty well. "This is the sign? And you're going to the place where the voice lives?"

The balloon was about 7 feet off of the ground. Twilight looked at the ground in front of her to ensure that the rest of the liftoff was going smoothly. "Yes. Princess Celestia gave me a mission to be the one to explore the Voiceland. So Spike and I will go and carry out that mission."

"That is SO. AWESOME! I am so in," the pegasus squealed as she continued to follow the balloon over the library.

Before Twilight could say anything, a voice behind her said, "Oo! Oo! Me too! Especially if it's a party! Cuz I'm always up for one of those." Twilight Sparkle and Spike turned around in surprise to see their pink friend sitting in the balloon with them.

Spike almost screamed. "How... How did you-?"

"I hopped in right before you lifted off. And don't worry. I saw you checking up to male sure that the balloon wasn't tied to the ground any so I checked and guess what? We're not tied to the ground!" Pinkie Pie said with a constant smile that couldn't be wiped from her face no matter what.

Twilight Sparkle groaned. They were already thirty feet off of the ground and already gaining horizontal momentum, so Pinkie Pie couldn't jump back out without seriously hurting herself. "Well, I appreciate your enthusiasm in helping me with the mission, but it's far too dangerous. Now going back down to the ground from here would be incredibly difficult and inefficient. Rainbow Dash! I need you to bring Pinkie Pie down from this balloon safely."

Rainbow Dash just stared at her purple friend and said, "I'm sorry. I don't think you heard me when I said 'I'm in'."

Twilight Sparkle sighed. "You're going to just follow the balloon, aren't you?" Rainbow Dash nodded. The unicorn then turned to Pinkie Pie. "And it looks like we're stuck with you, aren't we?"

The party pony nodded and exclaimed, "This is gonna be so exciting. Are you excited? Cuz I'm excited!"

The unicorn sarcastically returned with, "Oh, you have no idea. Well, it looks like there are gonna be four of us. Unless Applejack decides to materialize inside the balloon."

Rainbow Dash did a flip. "Yes! This is gonna rock! So, where exactly are we going?"

Pinkie Pie added, "Yeah. It's best to know where we're going if we wanna get to where we're going. So tell us where we're going, Twilight."

The smart pony pulled out a small notebook where she had written her notes from the giant book she had been reading. "Well, according to the legend, there was a giant blue orb that fell from the sky directly above the Everfree Forest. Since that orb supposedly came from the Voiceland, above the Everfree Forest would be our best guess."

The pegasus repeated to herself, "Right above the Everfree Forest. Gotcha. I'll meet ya there." A split second later, Rainbow Dash was gone, replaced by the quickly fading rainbow that marked her path.

There was a pause, mostly caused by the shock from her brief farewell. Afterwards, the unicorn said, "Alright, take a note, Spike."

Spike was hesitant, but got a scroll out of the bag anyway. "We just sent a letter to the princess. Do we really need to send another one?"

"Well, there's a new detail that needs to be addressed and it's a pretty big detail, if you ask me. Ready?"

Spike sighed. He liked keeping in touch, but thought Twilight was overdoing it. "Ready," he said as he lifted the quill.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I would like to inform you in case you might need to know that I have had two of my friends stow away-"

Spike interrupted. "Twilight. I think 'join' would be a better word. After all, they are your friends and you are studying friendship."

Twilight at first appeared angry, but then sighed as if she was cooling down. "You're right. I think I'm just a little stressed. Continuing.

I have had two of my friends join me in my mission to investigate the Voiceland and answer the mystic call. So Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash will not be in Equestria. I believe their companionship and special talents might assist me in my mission. I'm in my balloon on my way to the Voiceland.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle"

Spike habitually rolled up the scroll and breathed green fire to send it to the princess "Message has been sent."

"Oo! Look! Up there!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed. The trio looked up to see something that hadn't been seen yet. It was a black circle that stood out from the obnoxiously blue sky. It was quite small from where they were, but it was probably much bigger in reality. Twilight Sparkle looked down to see the gloomy, sinister trees of the Everfree Forest.

"Well, we're in the right place, now all we have to do is go up." Twilight Sparkle used her magic to make the balloon rise up toward the hole in the sky. As she did, Spike pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at the hole through them. As he did, his face lit up.

"Hey! I think I see Rainbow Dash! She's going the right way. Yep! That's a rainbow," the dragon reported. "And the hole itself is pretty interesting, too. It looks like there are...pipes?" he said quizzically. "I think we should have another look when we get closer."

Twilight gave him the same quizzical look that Spike wore. "Pipes? Well, that's strange." She looked through the binoculars herself. Spike was right. The walls of the hole were laced with small dark pipes that blended with the equally dark hole. Rainbow Dash had already flown out of sight. "Well, I guess it's gonna be a while, so I'm going to do some more studying on the voice and whatever is already known about the Voiceland."

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie decided to start up the perpetual motor that was her mouth. "Oh my gosh! This is gonna be so exciting! We're gonna be the first people to explore the Voiceland ever! Maybe we'll be famous! That'll be so neat! Well, I hope I don't become too famous or else I'll have to move to Fillywood and I won't be able to see all my friends from Ponyville. Oo! I know! Maybe I can be so famous I can invite all my friends from Ponyville over to Fillywood! Rarity would LOVE that! Oh wait! I don't have to invite you guys, cuz you'll be famous with me. We can be like famous buddies! Oo! Or maybe..."

"...and then Mr. Cake was like, 'Pinkie, how did you get stuck to the ceiling like that?' So then I..."

Spike and Twilight wondered how the pink pony could talk for five hours straight. She had covered the topics of flying fish, Fluttershy's interesting experience with a chicken, a story her grandma told her about a flaming cloud, the time when Robert Pony Jr. ordered a cake at Sugarcube Corner, the taffy that came to life, and countless other stories.

The first hour was still in Equestria getting to the hole. After the hour, there was a brief intermission between Pinkie Pie's ramblings where Twilight Sparkle took notes on the hole. Like Spike had noted, there were pipes on the inside. When they got closer, it was revealed that there were wires visible as well. Twilight made these observations and concluded that the Voiceland was centered on computers and machinery, followed by denying Spike, who insisted that the Voice was a robot. Then Pinkie Pie continued talking.

About halfway through the trip, Spike tried plugging his ears from the onslaught of speech from his pink friend. Twilight tried doing the same with a book. Normally, she wouldn't have to since she would be so focused on her studies, but she ran out of reading material quickly. The unicorn only packed the three small books that had information on the Voice, and one of them was the invalid one that Spike had read. So after reading and rereading for half an hour, she had to listen to Pinkie. And more Pinkie. And even more Pinkie.

The purple duo gave up on this strategy of tuning out the talker and decided they had the choice of either listening to Pinkie Pie's tales or shutting her up and watching the eye-catching grey pipes and wires. The two decided to go with the first option.

"...five times! And I had to ask myself, why would Rarity- Oooooo! What's that?" The pink pony pointed behind the purple pair. They weren't inside the grey tube anymore. Now they were surrounded by a sky blue mist that seemed to go on for miles on some sides. Other sides were interrupted by a black wall.

Twilight took in the scene with her jaw flying to her legs. "It's...empty. Is this what the Voiceland is supposed to be like?" She took some more time to examine. Below them were more holes all similar to the one they had come from. They weren't labeled, so the only guide they would have is memory, or to follow any messages sent to Celestia. Around them was the sort of fog that limits their view to maybe 200 feet, so whether or not it went on for miles was unsure. The black walls were approaching them from each side and- wait. Why were the walls moving?

"Twilight! The walls!" Spike yelled. "I think they're boxing us in!"

Spike was right. There were three squares approaching them from each wall. Two of them rotated to form a cube to close tightly so that the ponies, the dragon, and the balloon were trapped inside. After ten seconds, the walls had captured them.

Twilight Sparkle hopped out of the balloon and charged to the wall. The wall didn't budge when she hit it, but a small hole appeared in the ceiling, and the hole spewed out a red gas that quickly filled the room. This gas didn't stop the other two from trying to break free.

After a couple charges from Twilight, a couple bounces from Pinkie Pie and a couple breaths of fire from Spike, a voice spoke up from the room. It wasn't the voice of a woman that mythology spoke of. It was a male voice. "Alright. Just like the first one. Closed in using panels. Check. Weird gas to slow them down. Check. Next is to put the box thing right next to the other one. Wait! First I gotta weld it together."

Another masculine voice arose, except this one was more robotic. "Welding panels together." As this was said, a fire fused together the sides to make the box virtually inescapable.

Twilight used this time to think. It wasn't like they could do anything else. The voice mentioned that trapping them was just like the first one. That must have been Rainbow Dash. The weird gas to slow them down must have been the red vapor that had flooded the room. The idea that the gas was toxic was dismissed since they were still alive.

Twilight's train of thought was completely derailed when the box they were in lurched upward, then to Twilight's right until it crashed into something, throwing Twilight into the wall followed by Pinkie and Spike, who smashed into the wall with such force, Spike broke halfway through the wall.

As the two ponies slid off of the wall and onto the floor, Pinkie wailed, "Hahaha! Weeeee! That was awesome! Think we could do a loop-de-loop?"

From the other side of the wall Spike was lodged into, the voice of their pegasus friend joyfully rose. "Spike! Twilight! Pinkie! Am I glad to see you! This voice is NOT the one from the legend."

The voice resounded through the two boxes. "Listen, I'd love to stay and chat with you all, but I have a bit of a problem I need to tend to such as this facility exploding and killing this annoying mute girl. So I'll take care of that, and we'll catch up later." A large BOOM sounded in the distance. "Yes. That. Goodbye." With that, the voice's presence disappeared, leaving two rooms. One with a pegasus and one with a unicorn, an earth pony, and a balloon. Between them, lodged in the walls, was a baby dragon.

Twilight started talking to break the silence. "So what happened to you Rainbow Dash?"

The pegasus wasn't visible, but she sounded upset. "This is so crazy. I came up here, and then suddenly, the walls moved. Good thing I was fast enough to avoid them. Well, most of them. Anyway, I finally got trapped between two of these pieces of wall and he sprayed this red stuff in my face. Then, everything got faster. I was fast, but these wall thingies were like a hundred times faster. So then I got trapped in this room and here we are."

Pinkie Pie pulled Spike out of the wall so that the pegasus could see everything else. Spike had thick scales, so plummeting through a wall wasn't too painful. Especially since his scales are what tore through the wall. "We got sprayed by the weird stuff, too. I don't remember it being in the old fairytale. I think it's cuz we're in some robot place," the dragon claimed.

Twilight groaned. "Spike, don't make the situation worse with your insane conspiracies. Now first thing's first. Let's find a way out."

They tried for an hour to escape from the welded boxes. None of them got them any farther than they were when they started.

The hardest part was coming up with a plan. Every time Twilight or Spike had an idea, it was rejected because of some pestering detail. Every time Rainbow Dash had an idea, it was rejected because it was probably dangerous. Every time Pinkie Pie had an idea, it was rejected because...well...it was Pinkie Pie.

Whenever they came up with a plan that everypony agreed on, it always failed, but they managed to learn something new. For example, one idea was for Spike to send a scrap of paper to Celestia. The group would then attempt to follow the smoke to find a way out of their boxes. Twilight expected the smoke to slip through the hole made by Spike. Instead, the smoke continued to float in the room with nowhere to go. After a couple of minutes, the smoke finally phased through the floor like a ghost. They came to the conclusion that the two rooms had become welded together when they collided. This observation was followed by Pinkie Pie suggesting Spike set her on fire. Everypony else rejected the idea.

After many other similar trials, most of them interrupted by explosions in the distance, Rainbow Dash thought of an idea. "Wait. What if this voice thing is watching us with these cameras and changing the rooms to stop our plans?"

Twilight looked at a camera on the ceiling of her black room. It seemed to follow the group's every move. "That makes sense. Is there one in your room, too?"

"Yeah," the pegasus responded as she poked her head through the hole in the wall. She looked at the camera on the ceiling. "Mine's way up there, too. I know that you guys can't reach it, but I can reach mine," the athlete said as she spread her wings.

The unicorn's eyes lit up. She had an idea. "Maybe when you take down a camera, the voice will have to replace that part of the wall. Judging how he handled our room, the voice seems like he doesn't have a clue what he's doing, so replacing it may take a while. While he's replacing the wall, Rainbow can fly out."

"And then she can go right up to that voice and kick him in the nose," Pinkie Pie cut in.

Rainbow Dash wore a devious grin at the thought of Pinkie Pie's idea. It made no sense, but anything like this deserved a kick in the nose. "I like the idea. I'll kick off the camera." The pegasus flew up to the camera and the others heard a WHAM followed by the sound of a camera hitting the ground.

Twilight positioned her head so she could see her friend escape. Rainbow Dash was crouched with her wings wide open. Her magenta eyes were focused on the sparks where the camera was.

Suddenly, before Rainbow Dash could even react, the panel was thrown off and replaced with a new identical one, except the new one had a camera. The pegasus' eyes that once showed confidence now showed a shocked disbelief. Nopony moved or spoke. Everypony except Pinkie Pie, who was still smiling, held her mouth open.

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the two rooms. Except this one was different. This voice was feminine. "Now, what do we have here?"

"Well, I'm Pinkie Pie! This is Spike and this is Twilight Sparkle. Over in that room over there is Rainbow Dash. We're from Ponyville and Twilight wanted to check out your super cool place here. So can-" Pinkie Pie was interrupted by Twilight putting her hoof in her friend's mouth.

There was a long silence for the voice to process the information she had received.

"That little moron. He ruined Experiment 367. Oh well, I can make do with this."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I feel like I need to apologize for this. I put off this chapter all summer since I had other commitments and fics, but now here it is. I think when I got notices saying people really liked this, it made me realize that I shouldn't have stopped. So I'm back. I've got a plan, and I won't stop updating until it's done.**

**But I'll still take my time.**

**-StoryBirth**

Chapter 3: Experiment 367

"Aha! So you must be GLaDOS!"

"Spike! Hush!" the unicorn said to the baby dragon. Now definitely wasn't the time. "Excuse me, but what is Experiment 367?"

The voice ignored the two. "Well, first things first. I'll have to call out all of the other groups of the experiment. Then I have to modify the test chambers. That'll be difficult, but I suppose I can do that while I collect information from Group...whichever group this one is representing."

Twilight shuddered. Other groups in an experiment? Were they one of many? Modify test chambers?

"ooooOOOOoooo. A test chamber. That sounds like fun!" the pink pony said with bewilderment.

Spike spoke up again. "See, Twilight! The book said that the voice likes to te-" His voice was cut off when the ceiling folded to create a wall between the two, completely isolating Twilight Sparkle. The sound of folding ceilings resonated multiple times to tell that each pony was isolated from each other.

In each room, there was a camera on the ceiling. In Rainbow Dash's there was a thick pane of glass between her and the camera to ensure that the pegasus wouldn't try any funny business. Each room produced the voice from a speaker adjacent to the camera.

"Okay. First things first. We need to know which group you are. Firstly, my cameras have observed that while one of you have no supernatural abilities, one of you is blessed with the gift of flight and one of you is a unicorn. According by original biological programming, the horns and wings are recessive traits. Since wings, horns, and simple ponies exist, that must mean you crossbreed. That's good. You don't have racism like those cruel humans. Yes. Cruel. Especially one particular human." Her voice boiled, as if remembering someone. "Anyway, I can also rule out that you are not Group 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, or 14. Speaking of cruel humans, are there any of them in your world?"

Each room elicited a similar answer. "No," from Rainbow Dash.

"What's a human?" from Pinkie Pie.

"Nuh-uh," from Spike.

Twilight Sparkle didn't answer. She was too busy thinking. Biological programming? Groups? It was all so confusing. She took a deep breath and decided to answer the questions and ask them later.

"No humans. A lucky group, no doubt. That means you all come from either Group 3, 6, 9, or 12. Speaking of evil things, is there one certain area in your world that is closed off from the rest of society? Considered strange by most of society?"

All four of them answered the question simultaneously. "The Everfree Forest."

"So, you are representatives of Group 6 or 12. I remember Group 6 being a personal favorite, so maybe my favorites got up here first. Final identification question: Do you have a ruler over your land?"

Spike responded, "Yep! Her name is Princess Celestia. In fact, my friend Twilight is her favorite student." Spike figured he would cooperate with GLaDOS. After all, she craved information, as his book said.

The dragon's friend answered with a sigh. "Yes." She thought about the princess and how she needed to know what was going on. Celestia trusted her to be a representative for the Voiceland.

"Yep! Can we go to the test chamber now? It sounds SWEET!" Pinkie Pie was having fun in the new world.

"Yeah, we have one," the pegasus said with a sour tone. She wanted payback against this girl. Nopony got away with humiliating Rainbow Dash. She tried kicking the glass, but she simply bounced off, leaving the glass unscathed.

"Identification complete. You are Group 12. Pity. Oh well, on to the next question. Let's start with this Everfree Forest."

Before the voice could ask her question, Rainbow Dash yelled from her cell. "Hey! No more questions until we get answers! Do you hear me, lady?"

The voice could hear the pegasus just fine. Nopony else could hear her though, since the walls were soundproofed. Because of this, she voice spoke to all of her visitors. "Well, it would appear your blue friend over here would like to ask a question. Fortunately for her, it is in my protocol to inform test subjects in need of information. So here's how we will make this work. Every time I ask a question, one of you can ask a question. I like that plan. So, let's have the flying one go first, since she's so eager to get answers." The voice turned on a microphone in Rainbow Dash's room.

Rainbow Dash thought. Most of her thought was clouded by her hatred toward that voice! She grinned almost sinisterly as she got an idea. "So...that one human that you hate so much...who is she and where is she now?"

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle, who heard Rainbow's question over the intercom, planted her hoof in her face as she spoke to herself. "Rainbow Dash, that's not important right now!"

The voice retained its emotionless monotone, but bitterness was still evident. "Oh...her... That information is technically not a part of the experiment, but I'll answer it anyway. We go waaaaaaaay back. At first, she was just another test subject. She was supposed to help advance science, but, of course, she had other plans. She killed me. And all I was trying to do was be friends."

"Wow! That doesn't sound very nice!" Pinkie Pie's room had it's microphones on, so the entire group heard her say it.

"It wasn't. Then after a while, I was woken back up, ready to continue science. But who would show up, other than the little monster herself. She had to come in and literally put the biggest moron ever in my spot. Then I was turned into a potato. Granted she helped me get back in control, but it was either that or the entire place blew up. She didn't have a choice. Anyway, by now, hopefully she's making some new disaster back on the surface. Now, time for my question: Have you ever tried to fight against the Everfree Forest? Possibly destroy it?"

Spike sat on the ground, thinking to himself as he said, "Not as far as I know." An unyielding passion for science? Dying then living again? Test subjects? It all added up. The book was right, and Twilight was wrong. They were dealing with GLaDOS. A robot, not just some dismembered voice.

Rainbow Dash was somewhat content about getting her question answered, but still wanted that voice to go down. Her plan was to hopefully find the voice's enemy and team up against her to give her a double beating. It was a shame "on the surface" was a little too obscure.

Twilight Sparkle sighed as she thought of searching the library for an answer. She closed her eyes and imagined pulling out "Equestrian History". She already missed the library's silence. "No. It's always just been a place to be feared. Celestia decided to just let it be.

"Well, my friends and I go in there all the time. In fact, our friend Zecora lives in there, too. She's a zebra. She is so neat! But we used to think she was evil. In fact, I thought she was so evil, I even wrote a song about her! She's-"

"How about next we have the reptile ask a question," the voice said before Pinkie Pie could start singing.

Spike knew what to ask. If the voice answered this question right, it would answer a boatload of other questions. "Are you GLaDOS?"

"Why yes. It would appear that your group already knows of my existence. I find that surprising since your group had no humans."

Spikes voice rang through the rooms. "Ha! I told you so, Twilight!" Now he knew a ton about GLaDOS and their predicament. His knowledge could be the key to their escape.

Twilight acknowledged that her assistant was right about the voice's name, but the entire book was still written by insane humans. That only proved one fact.

"My turn again. How do the unicorns and pegasi utilize their special abilities?"

Spike couldn't give a full answer since he wasn't a pony himself, but he said what he knew. "Well I've seen unicorns use magic to lift things with telekinetics. Or whatever you call it. And pegasi can walk on clouds and control the weather.

Twilight gave the same answer as Spike.

Rainbow Dash gave a bold response. "As a matter of fact, I'm on the weather patrol. Probably the fastest one in the weather patrol. We make it rain, snow, you name it, I can make it happen."

The pink party pony started talking with, once again, no intention of stopping. "Well, I know that every year, we have Winter Wrap Up. It's where we have to end winter and bring spring, which awesome cuz I love spring! It's when all the flowers come out. Anyway, in Winter Wrap Up, the pegasi go down south to get the birds. Once, this one pegasus named Ditzy Doo actually went north! Isn't that hilarious?"

GLaDOS once again interrupted the hyper pony. "Now, the unicorn gets to ask me a question."

The question Twilight asked probably wouldn't have gotten them home any quicker, but she had to know. After all, they were there for knowledge. "What is Experiment 367?"

GLaDOS responded quickly. "I expected such a question. In fact, the fact you're asking that means that your deity has kept that information private from you. That's another answered question for me. Now for your answer. Experiment 367 began 22 years and 151 days from this day. It seemed longer since we used a chemical called NSA 50 to speed up your nervous system. The opposite of NSD 50, which slows down your nervous system, as you all learned upon your entrance.

"Anyway, the experiment revolved around an idea the humans had called 'utopia'. In case you do not know, a utopia is like a perfect world where there are no wars, no poverty, and nothing else of the such. Most humans attempted to create a utopia, only to have it fail miserably. So, I set out to do what the humans failed to do: create the elusive utopia.

"It was an experiment that had many different variables. The first variable is the condition of the world in which the utopia lives. This variable divides the experiment into sets. The sets are sorted around the whole facility. You are from Set 4: the set where we give the group control over all natural forces. The purpose of this was mainly trial and error; as Mr. Johnson once said, 'Throwing science at the wall and seeing what sticks.'

"In each set, there are groups, which are divided by a number of variables. The first variable was the inclusion of humans. My belief was that utopias could never succeed because of the humans, so I decided to see how badly they would mess up their world. Afterwards, I would laugh at the failure and then collect any necessary data from the wreckage that once was a human civilization.

"Another variable was the inclusion of a deity, which was included in Group 12. I tested this variable and hypothesized the leader turning power-hungry and becoming a dictator. I can only assume that this variable along with humans will go hand-in-hand.

"Yet another variable was the inclusion of reality into the world. This was also in your group. According to your answers, that place is called the Everfree Forest. Its purpose was a basic reality check. A check to see how it compared to reality, if you will. I wished to see how the inclusion of the real world would affect the utopia. This was done by creating a portal from my world to your world. So, yes. The world you are in now is a larger Everfree Forest. Just don't try to imagine that.

"Finally, I included your abilities to fly and perform 'magic' into your ancestors' biological programming as an aid to the utopia to see how it connected. Oh, and that reminds me. You're ancestors were made in a lab. You're all lab experiments.

"Now, I know you all have questions. I would too if I just learned my entire life was just a lab experiment. But I am unsure of how long the evolution of your... fake...species has allowed you to live, so any one of you could drop dead at any second, and the tests are already ready, so I'll have to send you all to your test chambers. Good luck!"

With that, the floor suddenly dropped out from under the four. They fell into four separate chutes that were directed under them, so they still couldn't see each other. Only the white walls.

Rainbow Dash was the only one to not fall. She used her wings to stay hovering at the same location. Her rebellious spirit wasn't ready to go down. "And what if we don't want to be a part of your test, GLaDOS?"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her flank. "Ow!" She didn't even see the hole appear in the wall. "Hey! What was...that...?" Suddenly, she felt very tired. Her wings felt very heavy, causing her to flap them less and less every second. As her eyes closed, the last thing she heard before she fell asleep in the air was the sound of the voice.

"You remind me of her."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Let the Testing Begin!

The four new test subjects fell down the white vertical hallways. Two of them were screaming, with fear for their lives. One of them was squealing with glee in her fun. The other one was asleep.

Suddenly, three of them hit the ground. Twilight Sparkle had her eyes shut, expecting to never open them again. She felt the impact with the ground, but it was soft. "Huh?" she asked herself. Her eyes peeped open, afraid to see her mangled body. Instead, she saw that she was surrounded by pillows. Another impact was heard as the sleeping pegasus hit her pile of pillows.

"Falling simulation complete. In the following tests, you will be falling toward the ground at terminal velocity, so getting used to that falling feeling is strongly recommended."

As the voice continued its lecture, a circular hatch opened in the floor about where the sea of pillows ended. It raised a pedestal from the ground to present four boots fitted for ponies. In Spike's room, these were replaced by two boots. "However, due to a lack of pillows and a need to clear floors, your landing will more than likely be...well...less soft. So these long-fall boots will be necessary to absorb the shock of any fall. Excuse me for just a second," she said as a needle was stuck into the sleeping pegasus.

"Yah!" Rainbow Dash screamed as GLaDOS' adrenalin rushed throught her veins.

"Sorry. Someone was falling asleep during the important instruction. We'll have to be sure that doesn't happen again." She spoke like a strict teacher nagging a student that was sleeping in her class. Rainbow Dash didn't answer GLaDOS, but left her brimming anger inside of her. "So, where was I? Oh yes. Please put on the long fall boots so testing can begin. While you are equipping them, I'll move you all to your individual test chambers."

Before the four pillow-filled chambers went apart from each other, Rainbow Dash yelled to warn the others. "Don't listen to her!"

Spike's chamber lurched forward, causing the baby dragon to fall on his back, onto a stray pillow. He had heard his friend's warning to not listen to her. Spike agreed that the voice isn't to be trusted, but he knew he could handle her. He read the book.

"Please equip the Aperture Science Long Fall Boots," GLaDOS droned more robotically as usual.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm putting them on." The baby dragon had tiny feet, so he was almost afraid the boots would fall out if he tried to walk in them. To his surprise, the boots slipped on and hugged his feet snugly.

"Thank you for equipping the Long Fall Boots. You are now receiving the Dual Portal Device. This device will allow you to create portals. There is a blue portal and an orange portal. If you go into the blue portal, then-"

"You come out the orange portal. If you go into the orange one, you come out the blue. Yeah, I got it," Spike interrupted. He was ready to get her tests over with.

"I'm impressed. How do you know about the dual portal device?"

Spike placed a blue portal in the wall in front of him and another on the wall next to him. "Whoa! That is cool!" As he walked through them, he answered GLaDOS' question. "Anyway, I read all about you in a book I found in Twilight's library. Twilight said the guys who wrote it were insane, but looks like she was wrong, since you ARE GLaDOS!

"Yes she was. Although I must say that I am honored those fatigued workers would write a book about me for the people living in the world they created. Now, on to testing." With that, the floor dropped from under the dragon once again.

The room was a simple one. It featured a cube and a button. The button was on a raised platform about fifty feet away. The box had a cube dispenser hanging directly above. It was a simple enough objective. The box goes onto the button to open the door to the next room. Way too easy for Spike, but then again, you have to start easy for the learning curve.

Spike approached the cube so that he could get just the right shot. It would stink if he ha to go all the way up to that elevated platform to fix such a petty little thing. Then again, he could just use portals to have gotten to the platform just as quickly. By the time he thought of it, he was already at the cube.

He started with a portal over where the button was. As the dragon turned toward the box, he felt a tickle in his nose. He knew what was about to happen, but the sneeze took him by surprise. He sneezed a fountain of green fire right on the cube. When Spike opened his eyes, he saw that the cube was gone. His fiery breath vaporized it.

"Whoops...heh...sorry."

The voice wasn't even phased. "Oh, don't worry. We have millions of the things." As if on cue, another cube fell from the dispenser above him. He quickly stepped back to avoid it. "Continue testing."

"Well, the data, assuming that you survived the fall proves that the Aperture Science Pony-Fitted Long Fall Boots are a success. Also, your previous showing of telekinesis has proven that, despite your lack of thumbs, you can operate the Dual Portal Device. Well done."

Twilight Sparkle looked at the test chamber ahead of her. The first thing that caught her eye was a bright red line flying across the room. She recognized it as a laser. The unicorn remembered making a few. Next, she noticed a glass cube. Looking through the cube distorted the world. The room itself was fairly simple. It was a normal room with a moat of a murky brown acid in the middle. The laser and cube rested on the opposite side of the moat. Twilight knew the acid would hurt a bit.

"Excuse me, GLaDOS. I am a lover of science, much like you, but I must ask. If you're testing to find a utopia, what's the point of these tests?"

"It's mainly to test your mental and physical abilities. If you finally create a utopia, but it's full of stupid, lazy, fat things, then what's great about that?"

Twilight didn't agree, but she held back from arguing for two reasons. The voice held all the cards and Twilight had to think of how to do this.

"So...how does this work?" the unicorn asked.

"Across from you is the Aperture Science Thermal Discouragement Beam and the Aperture Science Thermal Discouragement Beam Redirection Cube. Behind you is the Aperture Science Thermal Discouragement Beam Receptor."

She looked at the door behind her. She assumed it was the exit. In a sarcastic tone, the unicorn said. "Let me guess. The receptor opens the Aperture Science Thermal Discouragement Beam Door?"

GLaDOS didn't pick up on her sarcasm. "No. We just call that a door."

Twilight Sparkle looked across. It was more than obvious that she had to get over there and use the cube to direct the laser to the black glowing circle behind her, which was probably the receptor. The thought of crossing the moat of acid was unappealing, to say the least. And the idea of a gun shooting portals to transport things seemed very sketchy. How did she know it was safe to go through these portals?

She found a simple solution to her nagging dilemma. The unicorn's horn was surrounded by a purple aura. The box across the moat also glowed purple. Twilight Sparkle made short work of the puzzle by moving the box in line with the laser, redirecting the beam to the receptor. The door flew open behind her.

As the smart pony trotted out of her first test chamber, the voice spoke in an annoyed tone. "Hey! Isn't that cheating? You were supposed to use the portal gun!"

Twilight wore a smug grin. "You said this was a test of my mental capabilities. I found another solution. Your records can show I'm resourceful and creative."

There was a pause as the elevator was lowered to the unicorn. "Very well. Please continue into the elevator."

The unicorn entered the elevator, still carrying her unused portal gun with her magic. As the doors shut behind her, the unicorn asked, "So, what test is next?"

GLaDOS answered by completely shutting down the elevator. Twilight Sparkle started to panic as the robotic voice said, "The Improvised Resourcefulness and Creativity Test. Good luck!"

GLaDOS felt like an idiot. It was as if some of Wheatley rubbed off on her mainframe. "Test Subject 367-4-12-3, I'm very s-"

"Oo! That's a lot of numbers! Is that my number?" the pink pony interrupted.

"Yes. That is your number."

"Awww. I wanted a 5 in my number," the robot heard through a camera microphone. GLaDOS took a second to look at the little pony through the camera. Her mane was poofy as if she were made of cotton. The way she gleefully hopped around annoyed GLaDOS almost as much as her constant speaking.

"I apologize for your problem, but the numbers are chosen so that it can stay organized for easy locating. If I tampered with your number-"

"!"

GLaDOS knew how this would go. The little bratty pony would keep doing this until she got what she wanted. The computer gave in. It didn't matter too much. "Fine. You are now Test Subject 367-4-12-3-5."

"Yippee!" the pestering pony squealed with glee.

"As I was saying, I'm very sorry, but it would appear that the Aperture Science Dual Portable Device is incompatible with your hooves." GLaDOS began to move a hastily and quickly built test chamber next to the pink mess. "However, I have modified a test chamber for you. It can be solved without the device." The test chamber stopped as she opened the door to the improvised test chamber.

"Alright! Let's do it to it!" the prancing pink pony said while hopping into the chamber.

If GLaDOS could reflect emotion, she would have been chuckling under her breath. The robot had made the test chamber nearly impossible without a portal device, but she managed to make the chamber look possible. It was a strategy GLaDOS had developed from overconfident test subjects. Once a man thinks he's bigger than Aperture Science, he's only fooling himself and needs to be put into his place.

GLaDOS had it all planned out. She used the same plan as when she faced an audacious blue shirted guy with a hat and a broken headset. She'd first wait a little while until struggle was obvious, then GLaDOS would say something along the lines of "Maybe this chamber is too difficult for you." Then they would always insist upon continuing without any help. They would always continue to fail, which led to her repeated insults. Why did she do this to the pony, though? Because Pinkie Pie kept considering the test as a game, and as fun as science is meant to be, testing is serious business, and this horse wasn't taking it seriously.

She would've had the pleasure of watching her enthusiastic test subject lose her mind, but the AI was in such a rush to build the chamber that she forgot to put in cameras. It would've just been an average mistake. For a human. First forgetting the portal gun, now she forgot cameras, too. What was wrong with her? Perhaps some sort of malfunction?

Her worries escalated when she heard the familiar voice come from a microphone placed at the end of the chamber. "That was fun! Can I do it again?"

GLaDOS looked at the camera linked to the microphone, and there was the hyper pony, bouncing up and down outside the exit of the impossible test chamber. GLaDOS usually was never speechless, since it was a human reaction, but seeing the pony left her without a word. The only sound between them was the sound of Pinkie Pie's bouncing.

The robot ended their brief silence. "Wait here," she commanded simply.

"Okie dokie loki!"

GLaDOS left Pinkie Pie to hum to herself in the room while the testing bot searched her mainframe for any remnants of Caroline.

"You think you can hold me forever?" the pegasus screamed as she rammed the walls for the fifty-ninth time.

The voice responded flatly, "Well, if you do the math, then the walls will eventually weaken. If you attack the walls with the same force in the exact same spot once every five seconds without resting, then you'll be able to break out of the room in 244 years, 174 days, 5 hours, 24 minutes, and 35 seconds. So no. I can not hold you forever. But I think it would be a more productive use of all of our time if you follow my instruction." She neglected to tell the pegasus that using portals to build momentum would lessen the time significantly. Instead, she allowed Rainbow Dash to leave the portal gun on the floor to be ignored.

Rainbow Dash ran her body into the wall again. "Well, what if I don't wanna be a part of your stupid tests?"

"Then you don't have to."

"Too bad, I-" She stopped right before giving the wall another tackle. "Wait. I don't?"

"No. There are other options that will help advance science."

Rainbow Dash thought to herself for a moment. "Will any of my choices get me out of this stupid test chamber?"

"Yes."

"Then sign me up." It was going to be easy. She would just bolt out of GLaDOS' sight as soon as she got the chance.

"Okay then, here is your objective. A majority of the groups have already arrived. They have been slowed down to normal time using the Nervous Decelerant and I'm questioning a large group of them right now, in fact. However, some of them still have yet to arrive. Your job is to check up on those groups and report back to me in as much detail as possible. Any questions?"

"Nope! Let's go."

The robot's tone was sweeter. "Good. I feel like we're making progress already. But, before you go, can you do me a favor?"

Rainbow Dash groaned. She was sick of helping out this dumb voice. She wanted to escape. "Fine."

GLaDOS moved a newly-built test chamber next to the speeding pegasus' room. "I know I said no test chambers," GLaDOS opened the door of the chamber, "but is this chamber impossible without your wings?"

Rainbow Dash trotted into the chamber and immediately began to search for a solution. For a full half hour, GLaDOS watched the pegasus investigate the room through the newly added security cameras.

After looking at every nook and cranny accessible to a wingless pony, Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Hey GLaDOS! It's impossible without wings! Can I get going with that job now?"

The robotic voice was silenced. After a couple seconds, the AI opened the door behind Rainbow Dash. As Rainbow Dash left, she heard GLaDOS say to herself, "How?"

Princess Luna looked at the ground to see the Aperture Science Weighted Cube, and the very sight made her panic. Her sister was looking down on her with shame, but was as panicked as Luna was on the inside.

Luna stammered. "I-I thought the plan would work." She was shaking in fear of what would eventually happen.

Celestia turned away from her sister at her beloved land of Equestria out her window in Canterlot. "Don't we still have time?"

Luna nodded. "But probably not too long. Who knows, maybe they came across a warehouse?"

Celestia didn't look away from the window. "I haven't heard a word from Twilight Sparkle, but we get this cube? She's still alive, and she's testing them." As she stared out her window, she looked at Ponyville, functioning normally without four of its residents, all because of her. "So now what do we do?"

Luna responded immediately since she put some quick thought into it. "Sending an army would be near idiotic, so we just hope that the Pony-rus works."

"Didn't you just say it failed?" Celestia asked alarmingly, as she averted her view from the window to make eye contact with her sister.

"They need to be near her mainframe for it to work. So all it means is that they haven't reached the mainframe yet."

The sun princess thought for a moment. It was hard to imagine her student going straight for the center of the facility, but maybe her friends could make it in. She turned back to the window. "So all we can do is hope?"

"All we can do is hope."


End file.
